Photography is a way of putting distance between myself and the work which sometimes helps me to see more clearly what it is that I have made.

When I was at art school, a lot of art education is about art being a means of self-expression, and as an 18-year-old I didn't know if I had a huge amount I wanted to express. It was a big moment when I decided I wanted to shift the emphasis or the intention of my art from something I disgorged myself upon and something that actually fed me or made me see the world or understand the world.

You must have something new in a landscape as well as something old, something that's dying and something that's being born.

Time gives growth, it gives continuity and it gives change. And in the case of some sculptures, time gives a patina to them.

If I'm going to understand the land, I have to understand the wind, the snow, the rain, the leaves, the ice, and changes in temperature. It just reflects a reality for me.

Art for me is a form of nourishment. I need the land. I need it.

I'm cautious about using fire. It can become theatrical. I am interested in the heat, not the flames.